“To calculate 'the' fine structure constant, 1/137, we would need a realistic model of just about everything, and this we do not have. In this talk I want to return to the old question of what it is that determines… — Steven Weinberg Copy Share Image
“Fine Structure Constant: Fundamental numerical constant of atomic physics and quantum electrodynamics, defined as the square of the charge of the electron divided by the product of Planck's constant and the speed of light.” — Steven Weinberg Copy Share Image
“The apparent strengths of the forces in any field theory depend on two kinds of numerical parameter: the masses (if any) of the particles like W and Z particles that transmit the forces, and certain intrinsic strengths (also known as coupling constants) that characterize the likelihood for particles like photons or gluons or W and Z particles to be emitted… — Steven Weinberg Copy Share
“Many people do simply awful things out of sincere religious belief, not using religion as a cover the way that Saddam Hussein may have done, but really because they believe that this is what God wants them to do, going all the way back to Abraham being willing to sacrifice Issac because God told him to do that. Putting God… — Steven Weinberg Copy Share
This is often the way it is in physics - our mistake is not that we take our theories too seriously, but that we do not take them seriously enough. It is always hard to realize that these numbers and equations we play with at our desks have something to do with the real world. Even worse, there often seems… — Steven Weinberg Copy Share
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do… — Steven Weinberg Copy Share Image
I would say it's a lot easier to develop a decoy system than to develop the intercontinental ballistic missile itself. I would think that… — Steven Weinberg Copy Share Image
Rational argument can be defeated by refusing to argue rationally. — Steven Weinberg Copy Share Image
The universe is an enormous direct product of representations of symmetry groups. — Steven Weinberg Copy Share Image
Its a consequence of the experience of science. As you learn more and more about the universe, you find you can understand more and more without any reference to supernatural intervention, so you lose interest in that possibility. Most scientists I know dont care enough about religion even to call themselves atheists. And that, I think, is one of the… — Steven Weinberg Copy Share
Our job in physics is to see things simply, to understand a great many complicated phenomena in a unified way, in terms of a… — Steven Weinberg Copy Share Image
“Plato and the neo-Platonists taught that the beauty we see in nature is a reflection of the beauty of the ultimate, the nous. For us, too, the beauty of present theories is an anticipation, a premonition, of the beauty of the final theory. And in any case, we would not accept any theory as final unless it were beautiful.” — Steven Weinberg Copy Share
An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while sweeping on to the grand fallacy. — Steven Weinberg Copy Share Image
